Cat's Cradle
by Kittenn1011
Summary: Rewrite of "Murphy's Law", which was adopted from Kait1991's "Thys Tyme": Kurama always thought his human family were normal; that was, until his stepfather got a job offer for Hogwarts. As a "muggle" though, he ends up at Smeltings. There, the unthinkable happens.
1. In Which Wizards are Merciful

This story is the rewrite of a story I adopted from Kait1991 ages ago. It was originally called "Thys Tyme" and later I changed the title to "Murphy's Law". Now, it's called "Cat's Cradle" after the string game. For convenience, I will be leaving "Murphy's Law" up… but labelling it "complete" with an AN announcing this story at the last chapter. I will not be touching that version of the story again, but expect updates on this one to come quickly.

* * *

**UNIVERSE BACKGROUND INFORMATION:**

The setting in the YYH universe is weak. What I can tell you is that:

1) Yuusuke is a Spirit Detective still and knows of his demon heritage

2) Kurama is in first year of high school when the story starts, and Yuusuke and Kuwabara in the last year of middle school.

In the Harry Potter Universe, this is an AU where Dumbledore DID find a DADA teacher fifth year (at least, in the beginning) and Umbridge was NOT on-staff at the beginning of the year. The first chapter takes place BEFORE this year. Harry, in this, is NOT attacked by Dementors and because of that, the Order does not retrieve him for his own safety. Fifth year WILL be skimmed over majorly, so when sixth year starts I will give a summary of what is different. The bulk of the story will take place over sixth year and maybe into seventh depending on my dedication and where I decide to end it.

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**Edit (06/02/11): Changed name issue a reviewer brought up, where I called Kurama "Harry".**

* * *

**Cat's Cradle**

_YYHHP: Rewrite of "Murphy's Law": Kurama always thought his human family were normal; that was, until his stepfather got a job offer for Hogwarts. As a "muggle" though, he ends up at Smeltings. There, the unthinkable happens. Adopted from Kait1991._

* * *

**I: In Which Wizards Are Merciful**

* * *

High in the sky, the sun shone brightly, illuminating the waking city below. The city hustled and bustled as it did every morning; things happened and life went on. The cool morning breeze rushed through the streets and along the people starting their day, holding their coffees and waving good mornings to each other. Angry commuters travelled from their homes a distance away as they did every morning, their terrible moods rubbing off on everyone they met. Above where the city ended and the suburbs began, a single owl flew, baffling the few people who took time out of their day to look up.

The owl happened to be a generic, Common Barn Owl with a letter tied to its foot. More than just this fact baffled the few witnesses; the Common Barn Owl was not even native to Japan.

It soared gracefully across the blue sky, completely unaware of its own nocturnal nature, swooping around the small houses and community buildings. It passed by a grade school just beginning lessons and the children tried excitedly to inform their disbelieving teachers of the sight. It passed by a park and stopped shortly to drink from the birdbath, spooking the smaller birds and leaving behind a single feather, which ended up floating through the wind and being picked up by a small boy, no older than eight, who kept it for years to come.

The sun was high in the sky when the owl reached its destination: a small, unremarkable house, known to house equally unremarkable people. It landed on the windowsill of the kitchen and tapped impatiently against the glass. A medium-sized Japanese man with brown hair and brown eyes—the epitome of average— opened the window, curious.

The owl hopped inside and stuck out its leg. The man untied the letter wordlessly and gave the owl a nod of acknowledgement. It flew out the window, perched on the tree directly outside, and watched the man as he read the letter.

When finished, the man's face blanched. "Shiori! Shiori!" he yelled into the next room.

A small woman with long black hair and soft blue eyes entered the kitchen. "Yes, Kazuya?" she asked.

"I've been asked to take a teaching position in Shuiichi's school in England," he said. He glanced to the young boy sitting at the kitchen table playing checkers with himself. The boy looked about fourteen years old, with black hair, steel-blue eyes, and a cheerful smile.

"That's great!" he exclaimed.

Kazuya smiled to his son, then looked back to his wife and addressed her. "If I accept this position, we will have to move to England for the duration of my employment." He paused. "Shuuichi-kun will not be able to attend the school. I can get him into a neighbouring school as an exchange student if he wants to stay close… or we can leave him here…" he trailed off and considered other options. "You could both stay."

During the conversation, the teenaged boy they were speaking of— a boy with long red hair and bright, emerald green eyes, as abnormal as his family was normal— had entered the room unnoticed. He immediately jumped into the conversation and said evenly, "Hatanaka-san, I would prefer to stay in the same continent as my family." Kazuya looked disheartened for a moment and Shuuichi, catching onto it, continued, "If that is all that would stop you from taking this job then I do not have any protest." He smiled. "After all, how many students get the opportunity to go study in England?"

* * *

"Attention passengers!" a cheery voice said over the intercom, "We will be landing soon, please put all trays and seats in the upright position, and we are about to land! Thank you!"

"They are _way_ too perky for just having done a 19 hour flight!" Kurama grumbled in exhaustion, pulling his chair into the fixed position.

He braced himself for a rough landing; he hated travelling by plane. Of all the useful things that humans had invented for efficiency and comfort, he considered the airplane to be the most uncomfortable.

His mother gave him a smile from the seat beside him. Kazuya and Shuiichi had both left for England the night after they received the letter, leaving Kurama and his mother to take the plane after they sorted their affairs a week later. Shiori was to meet somebody to transport her to the school at the airport and Kurama was to meet somebody to house him for the final two weeks of the summer.

Shiori and Kurama climbed out of the crowded plane, and into an equally crowded airport, moving with the slow crowd of people unloading. Everybody wanted to be first off the plane, including Kurama and his mother.

When they finally exited, the two took a moment to breathe the fresh air of the Earth's surface and exchanged polite goodbyes before parting. The mother and son began to walk away from each other, but when they glanced back to each other at the same time and caught each other's eyes, they could not take it. They could not leave it at that. They rushed back together and embraced for the last time for a long time.

When they finally managed to gather the willpower to break apart, they separated without looking back. It was a long time before holidays when they would see each other again, but it was not such a long time at all.

Kurama began to look for his host.

It took quite a while to find him— nobody gave him a description and the man was not holding a sign. When he noticed an obese man with a bushy moustache and barely any neck mumbling about how he only signed up for a transfer because it was the latest trend and that if he could not find the boy in another five minutes he would simply leave, Kurama figured he found the right man.

"Excuse me sir, are you by any chance a Mr. Vernon Dursley?" he asked in his highly accented English.

"Yes," he said in a clearly false sugary tone.

"I am Shuichi Minamino," he smiled back as cheerfully as he ever could when faced with annoying strangers after the lengthy flight.

The man made a face at the name and Kurama figured he was not enthusiastic about pronouncing such a name as that, but it only lasted a half a moment before his expression became one of fake pleasantry. Kurama was not keen to spend the rest of the summer with that man and his family, who were probably the same degree of unpleasant.

"May I take your luggage?"

Kurama repressed a shudder. "No thanks," he said. "I would not want to impose."

"No, I insist," the man said with clenched teeth.

Needless to say, Kurama let the man carry his luggage for him.

The rode to the Dursley home in silence, and when they got to the home, Kurama quickly grabbed his suitcase before Vernon Dursley could offer to take it and followed the man into the perfect-looking house.

"Potter! Get down here now!"

"Coming," a voice called down.

He looked to Kurama. "There are few rules in this house. The first is that you do not touch anything that looks expensive without express permission," he stressed his words carefully, obviously trying to sound welcoming and failing miserably. "The second is that you do not bother Petunia and I unless it is an emergency. The third and last is that you do not go near my nephew—" he cut himself off and stared up the stairs. At the top was a messy boy about Kurama's age with eyes much like his own and uncombed black hair.

"What is it now?" the boy asked harshly.

Vernon Dursley sneered at him. "This is the transfer student I told you about," he replied in a harsher tone. "This is my nephew, Harry Potter," he told Kurama. "Boy, take his stuff to the guest room." The words _guest room_ were unpleasant and forced. Harry Potter sauntered carelessly down the stairs, took the suitcase from Kurama's hands quickly, and made his exit up the stairs without another word. When the rude boy was gone, his host finished, "the final rule is not to hesitate to ask him to do anything for you and otherwise leave my nephew alone. He's abnormal… a criminal, even."

Suddenly understanding why Harry Potter was so unpleasant— who would not be with an Uncle who treated him like dirt, as Kurama suspected?— he made a graceful exit up the stairs to the guest room, where he stayed the rest of the night, recovering from his flight.

* * *

The next morning was quite pleasant. Kurama woke up rejuvenated and feeling quite pleasant. He prepared himself for the day and when he reached the breakfast table, he noticed that the only other member of the family who did not look like they had just crawled out of bed was the delinquent, Harry.

"Good morning," he said with a cheerful skip in his tone. He took a seat at the table next to Harry Potter and hesitantly helped himself to breakfast. It was his first English breakfast, so he took a bit of everything and began to eat.

The three Dursleys made a no move to speak with him: even the two who had not introduced themselves yet. He knew then that the remainder of the summer would be boring and lonely.

"Sorry for last night," Harry Potter whispered to him, suddenly.

Kurama looked to him and gave him a questioning look.

"I meant my attitude," he explained quickly. "I haven't really been the most enjoyable person to be around. Can we start again?"

He smiled. "Of course, Potter-san. My name is Minamino Shuuichi, nice to meet you."

Maybe it would not be so bad after all.

* * *

Once he had befriended Harry Potter, time flew. Before they knew it, the residents of Number Four Privet Drive were stacked into a tiny car driving to the train stations to send the three teenagers to school. Harry was dropped off at King's Cross Station and Kurama and Dudley were later sent off on the train to Smeltings.

The spoiled Dudley waved only half-heartedly at his parents as they pulled out of the station and as soon as they were far enough away, Dudley disappeared. He probably planned to pick on some younger students; it was none of Kurama's business.

He sat alone.

* * *

The Hogwarts' Express pulled out of its own station about an hour or so earlier than the Smeltings train. Despite the long journey ahead, all the students were in high spirits. Excitement filled every compartment full of reunited friends telling about their summers over mountains of candy.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were an exception. Sitting in silence, they awkwardly fidgeted, not knowing what to say to one another after their lack of communication all summer.

The ice broke when they heard sudden commotion outside of their compartment. They opened the door to see Crabbe and Goyle throttling a Gryffindor fourth year with Malfoy grinning in the background.

"Leave him alone!" Harry told them, and much to his surprise, the two dropped the boy. It was the Asian student, Shuiichi Hatanaka. None of the trio had ever actually talked to him, but they knew him to be a nice kid. Harry doubted he started it.

"Why, Potter?" asked Malfoy, spiteful as usual. "He started this fight!"

"You insulted me, my family, and our honour!" the boy spat at Malfoy.

"To do that, your family would need honour to insult, mudblood!" Malfoy sneered like an angry snake.

"Leave him alone, Malfoy," Harry repeated in a more stern voice. He, Ron, and Hermione drew their wands and pointed them at the towheaded teenager.

"Get over here, Hatanaka," Ron ordered, and the boy grudgingly listened, drawing his own wand when he stood up. A sudden shout from behind Malfoy and the three boys clad in green turned around quickly to reveal Ginny and a couple of other fourth year Gryffindor girls, also wielding wands. The three boys scrambled away quickly.

"Thanks!" Hermione said as Harry, Ron, and Shuiichi stuffed into the compartment and waved at them.

"Any time!" one of the girls said, they waved and walked away.

"Thanks," Shuiichi said bowing and then walked back after the girls.

"He reminds me a bit of this guy that stayed with the Dursleys. " Harry said as they entered their compartment. He received two inquisitive looks and quickly explained, "It was a transfer student from Japan."

"Really?" Hermione asked, surprised for a moment, and Harry nodded. "It could be just that they're both Japanese," she said, ever the logical one.

Harry did not think it was just that.

* * *

Fortunately, Kurama did not have to share a dormitory with Dudley, his host, as he expected. Instead, he was stuck with a complete stranger with equal academic standings. He almost laughed aloud at the ineffectiveness of the system; despite his hatred for Dudley, Dudley was the only person he knew. He thought the point of coming two weeks early must have been to get to know his roommate.

The first night seemed, at first, like any other night. His roommate snored quietly and he could hear the building creaking— nothing immediately noticeable as unusual. He listened to the sounds of the building, trying to sleep but failing.

A noise in the hallway caught Kurama's attention. Something— or someone— was shuffling around. He could hear movement and it sounded like somebody trying to be as quiet as possible; he doubted he would have heard it if he was not a demon.

Curiosity got the better of him. He climbed out of bed and tiptoed across the hallways, quiet as a demon thief. A whisper of cloth rubbing on cloth travelled through the corridors and he realized quickly that the sounds did not come from regular students.

He turned a corner and found himself directly behind a group of strange adults in what looked to Kurama to be bathrobes of some sort.

They definitely did not belong.

He silently cursed Koenma's out-of-country travel contract for stating he could not carry any weapons of any sort with him. He did not have a single seed with him: not even that of a rose. Scoping the area, he irritably noticed the hall did not house a single plant. It was the hall of a depressing institution— bare and lifeless.

"Why burn this school down, it's a muggle school!" whispered one of the men.

Not fluent in English, Kurama held no surprise at the unfamiliar term.

"Because, the Dark Lord ordered it, if you wish to complain, wait until we get back and do it to his face!" another hissed back.

Kurama held his breath. Something about the man caused him to instinctively want to balk. Their words and tones did not help the fact.

"Not on my life!" the first man said.

A noise behind Kurama— the irrelevant sound of a door closing on itself— cause a man turned around and Kurama found himself eye-to-eye with the stranger. He momentarily wished the man was not wearing a white mask so he could see more of his face than his eyes.

The man held out a harmless looking stick which caused Kurama to get the same illogical wary feeling, but before he could discover what it the stick was and why, the man said, "Stupify," and the kitsune's world went black.


	2. In Which Sirius is Blamed

Konnichiwa. I bet you didn't expect an update so quickly! Okay, given, Chapter Two is painfully short with minimal changes compared to the last. This time it's only some wording and changing events slightly so they make more logical sense.

But you can expect a quick update again. This weekend, hopefully. :)

And, yes, I _am_ using this project as an excuse to procrastinate my major project (_Time Warp_, a _Harry Potter_ fic, if anybody is interested).

Finally, thanks to my single reviewer. For the record everybody: I love concrit. Any advice you can give for improvement is greatly appreciated. If you're not into that, just leave a few words. Reviews make my day.

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**EDIT (06/05/11): Typo fix of issue brought up by reviewer. "fact" to "face".**

* * *

**Cat's Cradle**

_YYHHP: Rewrite of "Murphy's Law": Kurama always thought his human family were normal; that was, until his stepfather got a job offer for Hogwarts. As a "muggle" though, he ends up at Smeltings. There, the unthinkable happens. Adopted from Kait1991._

* * *

**II: In Which Sirius is Blamed**

* * *

When Kurama came to it, he absorbed his location immediately; the room's impenetrable darkness hindered him not. Two men stood in front of him and one did not look like a man at all. He looked more like some sort of youkai— a snake of some sort— judging by his pale skin which looked almost scaly and his silted eyes and nostrils. However, Kurama could sense no demonic aura that came with youkai. The other man wore the same attire the men before wore; if he was not mistaken, the man was one of the ones from before.

"This is not the boy I asked for," the snake-man said. "You have brought me the wrong person."

"My Lord, I have told you. I sense something in this boy. He will be much more useful than Harry Potter's muggle cousin could ever be," said the other man.

"You believe he may be of great use?" the snake-man said. He had a dark, threatening voice as serpent-like as his looks.

The other man nodded. "Yes, my Lord. He feels strong. If you wipe his memory, he could prove to be a great weapon."

There was a moment of silence where Kurama decided sharply he wanted to know as much about these strange men as he possibly could. Something inside him told him they were threats, but he could not understand why. He wanted to understand. He needed to understand.

The snake-man turned to Kurama. "_Obliviate_!"

* * *

When Harry Potter entered the Great Hall that morning, he did not immediately understand the dark mood everybody exhibited. Looking for an explanation, he and Ron sat on either side of Hermione and stared at her.

Hermione had the Daily Prophet up to her nose, and, completely absorbed, did not notice their presence. Absently, she took a piece of bacon with her free hand and held it to Hedwig, who sat on her shoulder, causing the bird to have to hop towards her hand; her hand missed the owl by ten centimeters.

"Hermione? What is it?"

Hermione jumped, dropped the paper, and looked over to the sound of the unexpected voice. Harry gave her a questioning look and gestured to the newspaper.

"Right," she said. "You should probably hear this." She picked the Prophet back up and read, "_Muggle kidnapped from school— Sirius Black suspected._"

Harry and Ron let out strangled gasps.

"_A muggle school, Smelting's Boarding School For Boys, was subject to a mysterious kidnapping last night. Aurors did not immediately get involved, but when two teachers admitted to muggle authorities that they witnessed a strange body levitating across the grounds that night behind a group of mysterious people, Aurors were contacted. Ongoing investigations reveal magic had been used at the scene of the crime last night. The missing boy, a recent exchange student by the name of Shuuichi Minamino, was last seen in his dorm room at bedtime. Investigators believe he was lured out of his dorm and stunned. It is suspected that Sirius Black is rallying old allies from his days with You-Know-Who and is beginning to take real action. This reporter recommends readers to be cautious; Sirius Black is finally making his move._"

"Voldemort?" Harry whispered.

"That's horrible," said Ginny, sitting across the table.

The group sat in silence for a moment, absorbing the information. Then, something clicked inside Harry and he dropped his fork. "That's the name of the kid who was staying with the Dursleys!"

Before this revelation could sink into the others, something else diverted their attention. The new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Hatanaka, entered the room with a very red face. He might have been crying moments earlier. He walked directly to the Gryffindor table, took his son by the arm, and led him to Professor Dumbledore.

The two teachers whispered to each other for a moment before Professor Hatanaka and his son exited the room.

Professor Dumbledore stood up. He waited for the Hall to quiet— which it did quickly— and then addressed them. "Professor Hatanaka has, unfortunately, been forced to resign due to tragic circumstances. We must bid him farewell and wish him a safe journey. Defence Against the Dark Arts is cancelled for a week while we find his replacement."

Hermione, Ron, and Harry exchanged dark looks. There was something wrong and the semester had not even started yet!


	3. In Which the Sorting Hat is Fooled

Hello again! This is the first chapter with major cuts. Luckily, they were not plot-relevant scenes… which was why they were cut, for that matter.

I do wonder, though, how much of the original story is left now.

Aside: I wanted to call this chapter (spoiler) "In which the Sorting Hat is tricked out of putting a Junior Death Eater in Slytherin by out-Slytherin-ing it"… but it was much too long.

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**EDIT (06/05/11): Typo fix. Noticed I forgot a "t" on "Voldemort".**

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**FIFTH YEAR SUMMARY:**

In fifth year, Hatanaka leaves on the first day of school and does not return for the rest of the semester, as his step-son had gone missing and was assumed kidnapped by dark wizards and possibly dead. Almost immediately, the Ministry appoints Umbridge to the job and the year goes by almost exactly as it does in the books.

Because he never actually began to teach, Hatanaka was not _technically_ ever a teacher of Defence Against the Dark Arts and never affected by the curse.

* * *

**Cat's Cradle**

_YYHHP: Rewrite of "Murphy's Law": Kurama always thought his human family were normal; that was, until his stepfather got a job offer for Hogwarts. As a "muggle" though, he ends up at Smeltings. There, the unthinkable happens. Adopted from Kait1991._

* * *

**III: In Which the Sorting Hat is Fooled**

* * *

The boy who used to be Kurama stood in the dark room again, this time in a large crowd of people in masks. He held no fear of them, though, as he did the last time.

The boy who used to be Kurama bowed with his captors dressed in identical long, black robes as they were dressed in. Half the cloaked people were fully-grown men, and half were much younger— the youngest seemed to be barely sixteen.

In the front of the room, Lord Voldemort stood, centred.

"Rise," said Lord Voldemort.

The crowd rose from their bowed positions quietly.

"You haven't failed me again, have you?" said Lord Voldemort. "Is this _Riddle_?"

"Yes, my Lord," said one of the men.

Lord Voldemort eyed the man carefully. Then, he gave a curt nod and turned to the younger present. His eyes paused as he scanned over Draco Malfoy, but his eyes finally stopped when he reached a boy with short, black hair and pale green eyes. "Riddle," he said, "step forward."

The boy who used to be Kurama stepped forward.

"Riddle, you are leaving tomorrow. Do not bother returning if you fail," he ordered.

* * *

Harry sat in his compartment, which was empty, waiting for Hermione and Ron to get back from checking in the prefect carriage. Drumming his hand along the windowsill, he began to softly hum and familiar tune and watched the scenery zooming by.

The door to the carriage opened.

"Do you mind if I sit in here?" the boy in the doorway asked. He gave an awkward smile and a bit of his scruffy, black hair fell into his face; he promptly blew it off.

"Uh… sure," Harry said. He wondered absently who the boy was, though he was not yet bothered by that fact. He knew that he did not know everybody in the school.

The boy took a seat across from him. "I'm Eric," said the boy who used to be Kurama.

"Harry Potter," he introduced himself.

"I know," said Kurama.

They sat in an awkward silence until Ron and Hermione opened the compartment door and announced their presence.

Hermione was the first to speak. "Hey Harry, who's this?"

"Eric, this is Hermione and Ron, guys meet Eric," Harry said casually.

"Hello Eric," Hermione greeted. She looked at him with a calculating look, as if he was something unusual she was trying to figure out. "If you don't mind me asking, what year are you in?" she finally said. "I've never seen you before, and you're way too old to be a first year."

"I'm a sixth year," he said. She furrowed her eyebrows and he quickly realized what the expression meant, so he elaborated. "I'm transferring from a privately run school in Italy," Kurama told her, giving a soft reminiscent smile to give the impression he missed it there.

"We're in sixth year, too. Gryffindor." Hermione gave him an encouraging smile. "We'd love to see you there too."

"Yeah," agreed Ron. "Gryffindor's the best!"

The group shared small smiles, and then began to laugh. Before they knew it, they forgot what they were laughing about in the first place— which was really nothing.

It seemed to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

* * *

Nobody had used the small room off the Great Hall since the Triwizard Tournament. In the history of the school, it had not been used often enough to even justify its existence. The small, stuffy room was where Kurama waited, counting dark, decaying bricks to kill his boredom.

In the other room, he could hear the Sorting, but it did not interest him.

When he finished counting bricks, he started counting floor tiles. Just as he began to wonder why the Sorting was taking so long, he heard Dumbledore begin to speak.

"Before our feast begins I have to say a few words," the Headmaster said. Even outside the Great Hall, Kurama could have heard a pin drop inside it. The student body ceased their whispering and waited for Dumbledore to continue. "I have a special announcement: a transfer will be joining us this year. I am very pleased to introduce Eric Riddle. I hope you all make his stay as painless," at that word, his voice was slightly accusing and Kurama imagined that he was looking at troublemaking students at that point, "and pleasant as possible."

Kurama opened the door and faced a room full of students. He scanned the crowd and noted the children of Death Eaters sitting around the table under the green banners— the Slytherin table, he assumed— and the three students he met on the train on the opposite side under the red banners— obviously, Gryffindor.

Also at the Gryffindor table sat Shuiichi Hatanaka. Kurama's eyes lingered on him for a moment, as if he recognized him. Shuiichi was staring at him in shock. He recognized the transfer student. Behind him, Kazuya Hatanaka at the teacher's table was giving him similar looks.

Kurama sat on the stool and Professor McGonagall— the woman who had retrieved him from the carriages and led him into the dirty room from a back entrance— placed the Sorting Hat on his head.

Immediately, a voice in his head said, "_Well, look at what we have here! Don't have much of a memory, now, do we?"_

In reply, he thought to the Hat, _"I was on the bad end of a memory charm in my sixth year, according to my father."_

_"Interesting mind, nonetheless,"_ the Hat replied. _"Slytherin would do well, wouldn't it?"_

_"I'd prefer not to be in Slytherin. Thanks to the offer, though." _

The Hat snorted its disbelief. _"Now, now, I can see your life. You're…"_

_"Not Slytherin! I have it on good authority you take into account where we want to be placed!"_

_"Why not Slytherin? It suits the memories you have. You can't lie to me, I see them." _

Kurama softly growled. _"Aren't you against petty house discrimination? Slytherins are not all Junior Death Eaters."_

"_You do have a point,"_ the Hat admitted. _"Let's see… you're quite intelligent… Ravenclaw would be a good alternative."_

"_What about Gryffindor?"_

"_I'll admit, one does have to be brave in some way to face Lord Voldemort. That's just grasping at straws, though…"_

"_You say his name?" _Kurama inquired.

"_Why shouldn't I?"_ the Hat replied. _"I sorted him the same as I am sorting you. Speaking of Tom Riddle, don't you want to be in your father's house?"_

_"I am neither willing nor obligated to answer that question_," said Kurama. _"Gryffindor actually sounds really good. Can I be there?"_

"_It's your neck on the line,"_ said the Hat. _"If you're sure…"_

"Gryffindor!" the Hat finally shouted, leaving about half of the Slytherin table gawking at him as he strutted over to the Gryffindor table.

"Hey, shift over Neville. We met him on the train, he's actually really nice." Hermione said, motioning for Eric to sit by them. She moved towards Neville to make room; the spot Eric sat in was next to Suiichi Hatanaka.

The food appeared in front of them and Ron began to dig in. The others casually began collecting the food for their meal. Their slower pace allowed room for conversation— a luxury of which Ron, already stuffing his mouth full of food, did not have.

"So, what'd the Hat say?" Harry asked.

"It was interested in my memory…" he trailed off and looked to them carefully. After a moment's pause, contemplating how safe telling them would be, he continued. "Or to be more specific, my lack thereof." He took a spoonful of mashed potatoes and gave them a calculating look, almost as if he had never seen mashed potatoes before.

Mouth full, Ron said something that was supposed to be, "What do you mean by that?" It came out completely mangled and Kurama had no idea what he said. Hermione, on the other hand, understood completely. Over the years, she had grown used to Ron's terrible habit to speak with his mouth full. She quickly translated.

Kurama shrugged. "I was on the bad end of a memory charm in my sixth year," he explained. "According to my father, that is."

"You still know all the stuff you need for the year, right? If you didn't, wouldn't you be re-learning it all right now?" asked Hermione, obviously curious.

"Yeah," he admitted. "It's easy to learn stuff like that. I caught up over the past year…" he gave her a smile. "All while learning what I needed to know for Fifth Year and taking my OWLs while I was at it." Hermione's wide eyes demonstrated her shock. "What I miss is anything on my family… and after the charm incident I lost all of my friends because I was frantically studying to catch back up to their level. I was relearning everything from first year up!" He shrugged. "It was interesting to lose my memory, I give it that."

For a moment, an awkward silence overtook them. However, it only took a moment for the fifth year next to them to break it.

"You look like my brother," he blurted out suddenly, then turned away, his face a deep red.

"What?"

"My older brother." Shuiichi looked to the floor. "He'd be your age… if he was still alive. He had the same smile as you… the same green eyes. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you _are_ him." He stuttered the sentence in a soft voice. The subject clearly— and understandably— made the younger teen feel uncomfortable.

Even Harry saw it; the transfer _did_ have the exact same emerald eyes and sly smile.

"I'm sorry for your loss," said Kurama. "And I apologize that I look like him."

"Is okay," murmered Shuiichi. "You can't do anything about that." He sighed. "I've been rude. I should have introduced myself. Your name is Eric, right? I'm Shuiichi Hatanaka."

"Eric Riddle," Kurama said with a small grin.

Through the rest of the feast, the group talked pleasantly. After, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the prefects guided the first years to Gryffindor Tower. Harry and Kurama walked together near the end of the group, talking about various subjects. Most notably, Harry explained Quidditch to him; a subject his father failed to explain in the past year. When they arrived and Eric learned of the dormitory he would sleep in, he waved goodbye saying he was going to write a letter to his friend.

Unknown to Eric, Hermione was immediately suspicious of the comment. Had he not said before, _"I lost all of my friends because I was frantically studying to catch back up to their level"_?

* * *

_Dear Father_

_I am a Gryffindor. I am so proud to be sorted into the house that you wanted me to be in! I'm so excited about studding at your old school. I will keep you posted on events!_

_Love from Your Son,_

_Eric Riddle._

He smirked at his disguised message. If it was intercepted, nobody would guess a thing. He pulled his small post owl from inside of its cage and tied the message to the owl's leg whispering, "Take it to him," and threw it out the window to deliver the note.

The small owl's figure was quickly lost into the dark evening's twilight.


	4. In Which there is a Dream Sequence

Yes, I do wish I could have cut out the Dream Sequence… I hate them as much as you probably do. This isn't an ordinary one, though… so I had no idea how to cut it without really screwing the plot to pieces.

On an unrelated note, (I can't believe I didn't mention this before…) did any Canadian readers go to Anime North in Toronto last weekend? I had a lot of fun, but am now (officially) broke. Yay me.

Finally, thanks to all my reviewers so far... (all... erm.. five of you). Everybody else... take pity on the authoress who is putting out (basically) a chapter a day and getting about one review per chapter and leave me a couple words. Even if you didn't like it. I love concrit. :)

* * *

**Cat's Cradle**

_YYHHP: Rewrite of "Murphy's Law": Kurama always thought his human family were normal; that was, until his stepfather got a job offer for Hogwarts. As a "muggle" though, he ends up at Smeltings. There, the unthinkable happens. Adopted from Kait1991._

* * *

**IV: In Which there is a Dream Sequence**

* * *

In Japan, life went by normally for almost everybody. The disappearance of Shuuichi Minamino held little importance. His few friends and his family attended his funeral when the authorities gave up on finding him, but none really lost hope he was alive.

Some had not stopped trying and it had long since begun to wear on the patience of others. Fight became a daily occurrence, and the insistent searcher never made progress.

Yuusuke and Hiei would often find themselves sitting in trees in city parks, letting the insistent searcher use his Jagan in the way he meant it for— to search for somebody— while Yuusuke made sure he did not fall over. The day they finally made progress, they were doing exactly that.

"Hiei, give it up. We aren't gonna find him. It's been a year already," said Yuusuke.

"He's somewhere, Detective. He's being blocked," Hiei replied shortly.

Yuusuke rolled his eyes at him. "That's what you say every day, man. Saying it won't make it true."

"This time," said Hiei. "This time is different."

Yuusuke just leaned back on the tree branch and closed his eyes lazily. "You just keep telling yourself that. Wake me up if I fall asleep, 'kay."

"You want to see if I find him."

Without another word, Hiei pulled off his headband. He closed his ruby red eyes, and opened his lavender Jagan eye.

"Guilty as charged."

Hiei was long gone before he could hear Yuusuke's final comment.

* * *

Fog covered the world.

Except it was not really fog at all. The fog composed the world itself; almost like how person with terrible eyesight would see the world should they remove their glasses, but the colours were much less vivid.

Something began to focus in the blurry mist of a world. The image of a bed with a boy on it began to enhance itself in front of Hiei. Beside the bed stood another boy, who was almost as blurred as the world around them. Hiei ignored the other boy— he was not important— and focused on what he could see.

The boy on the bed was a dead-ringer for Kurama, though not quite an exact match. Kurama would never cut his precious, long, red hair, let alone dye it black.

Resting on the boy's lap was a book with markings in a strange language Hiei did not recognize. He leaned in towards the Kurama look-alike and began to slip into his consciousness.

"Fox?"

He began to mumble frantically and Hiei smiled. The consciousness recognized him.

"Fox? Kurama?"

He found him.

He finally found Kurama.

Kurama began to thrash about, and Hiei quickly whispered into his ear, "Wake up."

* * *

Hiei's eyes flew open and his Jagan was covered with his white bandana in second. He turned to Yuusuke, napping on the branch, and whacked him.

Yuusuke fell out of the tree. He hit the ground hard and jumped up. "Where's the fire?"

"We're going to find Koenma," said Hiei, jumping down from the tree and landing softly beside him.

"Wha—?"

"I've found Kurama."

Yuusuke's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Sort of."

Instead of asking for clarification he knew he would not get, Yuusuke instead said irritably, "Where's the Ferry Girl when you need her?"

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear before you," a chipper voice said from behind them. They both turned to see Botan standing, smiling at them. "Or, at least, speak of the Shinigami... but that sounds more final, don't you think? Like… speak of the shinigami and you'll… well, die. Who wants that?"

"Woman?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

"What's so serious, Hiei?" she inquired, suddenly sober.

"Take us to Koenma," said Yuusuke. "Hiei's found Kurama." He winced. "Well, sort of."

* * *

When Yuusuke and Botan thundered into his office with Hiei in tow, the first words out of Koenma's mouth were, "Where's the fire?"

"Shut up," said Yuusuke. "Hiei's found Kurama." He paused. "Sort of."

Koenma frowned. "Sort of?" he asked. "Hiei has _sort of_ found Kurama?"

I found him, but I don't know where he is," Hiei clarified. "He's alive, he's disguised. Looks like he's hiding. He's with humans. They don't speak Japanese."

"Okay, so you've found him... but _you don't know where he is_? Are you _aware_ that that makes no sense?" said Koenma, stressing the last few words.

"Hn. It's better than what you've found, and you have the entire spirit world searching." Hiei glared.

Koenma sighed, "Try to locate him then, as soon as you can! He's not even supposed to leave… Japan…" At the last few words, the demigod came to an epiphany. He stared forward in shock and his mouth fell open. "Oops."

"What?" Hiei snapped. His murderous look demanded Koenma to finish the sentence.

"He gave me a paper, and George said it was something about him needing to go to England and… I think I stamped it… but then he went missing…"

* * *

When Harry came up for bed, he immediately noticed the new student asleep on his bed with _Standard Book of Spells Year 7_ resting open in front of him. He gave the sleeping form a tiny smile.

Harry pulled a blanket over him, and immediately felt reminded of his houseguest of the summer before fifth year. He remembered walking into the guest room to check on Kurama many times, only to find the exact same sight.

It was terrible that the Death Eaters killed such a nice muggle as Shuuichi Minamino.

* * *

Kurama stood in the centre of a huge stadium. In the stands, hundreds of weird people cheered and jeered in various languages. He shrunk back, and found himself bumping right into a short boy with spiked black hair. The look in the boy's eyes promised murder, and Kurama immediately felt the boy was not a boy at all. His cool, black eyes were much too old.

The stadium hazed away. Everything, even the sky, faded into the thick fog. Everything, that is, but the boy.

The boy walked on the clear, glassy surface that seemed to supplement the ground, thorugh the mist, and away from Kurama.

"Hey!" cried Kurama. "You!"

His voice echoed clearly through the dreamland, though there seemed to be no objects to cause an echo by bouncing sound. The foggy landscape seemed to go on forever.

"Fox?"

The response echoed just as Kurama's voice had.

He began to give chase to the boy, the sounds of his footsteps echoing just as the two voices had.

"Wait, stop!" he yelled.

"Fox? Kurama?"

"Wait!"

He continued to chase the boy, yelling at him, but the boy kept walking away slowly, and Kurama kept running as fast as he could in pursuit. The boy still managed to stay, what seemed like miles ahead of him. He heard the other's voice again; this time it was softer— like a whisper. It did not echo and it did not question anything.

"_Wake up."_

"Wait!" Kurama shouted. He bolted upright and his arms stretched to grab something just out of arm's reach.

"Eric, it's a dream!" Harry cried in alarm, dodging Kurama's flying arm by inches.

"Oops?" he grinned sheepishly.

Harry smiled. "It's all good. I was just about to wake you up for breakfast."

"Are you a hundred percent sure I was sleeping?" It was a weird question to ask, he knew. The dream felt too real, though.

"Yeah, your eyes were closed, and you were even sleep taking," said Harry. "Must've been one weird dream."

"It was," said Kurama. "It really was."

"Next time you wake up, please try to avoid screaming. It tends to makes people grumpy." Harry's voice was serious, but his mischievous smile gave Kurama the impression it was a joke.

* * *

Kazuya Hatanaka almost could not convince himself to return after the episode of the year before. He could not bring himself to return before the year was over, but when Dumbledore contacted him again during the summer, he had little reason to hold back. Shiori would be under the best protections they could get her in the house in Hogsmeade, and both Kazuya and Shuiichi would be safe in the school.

He missed Shuuichi greatly, but he had to move on with his life.

His first class of the year was the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sixth years. They arrived in small flocks, and within five minutes of the bell, the entire class had seated themselves.

"Welcome back class. For those of you who (pitifully) don't remember my brief appearance last year: I am Professor Hatanaka. This year we will be studying both physical and magic defence. Wands are only useful at distances and if they are in your possession. If your get up close in a fistfight or get disarmed, you'll need to be able to defend yourself. Today, you will take turns skirmishing with me; I want to see where each of you stands physically. Riddle, you come first."

Eric Riddle walked to the front of the classroom, an air of confidence surrounding him. He stood across from Hatanaka in a slightly crouched position. He held is raised hands in half-fists and his vibrant green eyes shone with familiarity of the art.

Hatanaka took a similar position, and the fight began in the quick movement of the Professor.

Hatanaka swung his clenched fists at Eric's unprotected torso, but his fist went through thin air when Eric dropped his body to the ground and tripped Hatanaka in one fluid motion. Hatanaka swiftly somersaulted to his feet and the fight commenced, Eric too back on his own feet. He parried all of Hatanaka's attacks, and the Professor attacked harder and faster than before. Suddenly Hatanaka felt a sharp pain in his stomach; he looked down to see the Eric had planted his knee there. Eric's fist caught his shoulder and knocked him away and onto the ground.

"I give!" Hatanaka shouted, trying to get back onto his feet unsuccessfully. He looked at the class, their eyes wide with shock. When he glanced over at Eric to see that he was looking at the hand he used in the final attack.

(He had gotten bit carried away.)

"Class dismissed," Hatanaka said through clenched teeth, "and, Riddle, stay behind."

The class left, while Harry, Hermione, and Ron lagged behind the group. Hatanaka quickly shooed them out, as well.

"Where did you learn how to do that?" gasped Hatanaka.

The boy faltered. "Honestly?" he asked. At the nod, he looked away from his Professor's eyes and said, "My knowledge of martial arts is, like, nil." He shrugged. "I have no idea where I could possibly have learned it; it was like my body knew something my brain didn't." Almost as if for good measure, he added, "It terrified me."

"I was hoping you had had some formal teaching, so you could assist me with your fellows, but—"

"I can still help!" he insisted. "It was… fun to fight! It thrilled me a way I have never known! Much more invigorating that a simple magic fight! And I need to depend upon my body's abilities too, not just my knowledge of spells to win if I ever need to defend myself. I can help you demonstrate stuff!"

"So, your abilities scared you, but it made you— happy– to be fighting? You, Riddle, have problems; you must never enjoy a fight. Martial Arts and fighting in general must only be used when completely necessary. Otherwise, it makes you no better than your attacker." His stern voice did not betray his own slight fear of a student excited to fight. Nothing good ever came of it.

Realizing he said something wrong, the teen continued, "It wasn't the fighting that made me happy… I guess it was the adrenaline it gave me." He gave a nervous smile. "It's not like I plan on going looking for a fight now." He paused. "Can I go now? My friends are probably waiting for me. I don't want to make them… late or anything."

Hatanaka dismissed the class early. He knew they could not possibly be late for anything. Nonetheless, he quickly decided against keeping the boy longer either way. He did not have a pleasant feeling about him.

"Dismissed… but, Eric, you should work on you fighting skills; you're pretty good at it." Hatanaka waved the teen away.

When the boy disappeared out of the door, he mumbled to himself, "Strange kid," before walking back to his office.

* * *

_Dear Son,_

_Congratulations! I always hoped my son would end up in Gryffindor! I hope you have fun and your grades are up to my standards. Tell me when your next Hogsmeade trip is, so I can send you some money. The village is amazing!_

_Equal Love From,_

_You Father_


End file.
